


Silken Sands

by elrojocapucha



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: AU, F/F, Helix Security International, OT3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-01-01 03:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18327428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elrojocapucha/pseuds/elrojocapucha
Summary: Helix Security International agent Lena Oxton, callsign Tracer, has been set out into the deserts of Egypt to scout out a potential encampment site. But upon finding a long forgotten pile of rubbish and ruin, she comes upon a brass lamp, that holds someone far beyond what she could imagine, and whom will reveal much more of the world she was once aware of.(((Gonna take another crack at a multichapter fic, and I think I've got the motivation behind this one now. I'll try to update as much as I can, fair warning there will be depictions of violence/combat in the future planned, but the warning should be put out front. Anyways I'm nervous as hell so here goooooooooes)))





	1. Awaken

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the amazing dogtit (https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogtit/pseuds/dogtit) for allowing me to commission them the absolutely astounding piece featured in this text! Honestly the minute I saw it completed, I told myself that I couldn't 'not' write a story for it.
> 
> Further special thanks to the wonderful brazenedMinstrel for beta reading the product before you. (https://archiveofourown.org/users/brazenedMinstrel/pseuds/brazenedMinstrel) Go check out her amazing work on both SoundCloud and this site! (https://soundcloud.com/user-768938233)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All it takes is for one door to close, for another world to open

Sometimes a dream feels so far off that it feels real as if what a person saw was attainable, tangible, within their grasp and care as the calming chills of the nights' breeze held them in-

“Tracer?... Tracer, come in, you haven’t reported back on the scheduled hour.”

-sleep.

The cracking of the radio comms and pitch of Lena’s CO roused her from what was about to become a good evenings rest. Lifting herself up from the corner she had huddled herself into, bending the neck ever so slightly to work out any muscular strain, looking up into the night sky, the moon in full view with the few stars that glistened on the heavens canvas. The light gently beaming down into the rectangular chamber she had decided to take shelter within for the evening. 

Lena eventually clicked on her attached radio to respond, “Sorry ‘bout that chief, had a bit of a nap. Hope it’s not too late for the report anyway?”

There was an audible sigh that nearly echoed throughout the halls.

“No, no it’s not. What have you found?”

She couldn’t really say for certain, “Something like ruins. Maybe a temple of some kind, I wasn’t expecting a complex of this size out in the middle of a desert.”

That itself was underselling what Lena had found. Helix scouts were sent out on ATVs built to withstand the changing desert environments, and their job was to report of any possible encampments the company could hold up in, or report any suspicious behavior out on the dunes. But she wasn’t expecting an entire desert palace covered in sand and dust, tattered tapestries of unknown royalties and creatures as she descended further into the chambers, great halls and plazas that could fit entire battalions. She wanted to explore more, but knowing helix, they’d probably set foot in the unit before any proper digging could even be done.

Which was something her CO knew, “Do you want to speak off the record, Lena?”

She herself then sighed, “Winston, this place is huge, gargantuan, I honestly don’t think it’d be wise to even set up a base here, this should be studied, archived, proper archeologists and historians should be here, not soldiers.”

Lena had actually studied to be an archaeologist long before she enlisted with Helix, graduated, applied for jobs, even acted as an essential part of a few expeditions. But it wasn’t enough, she wanted to see and discover more, and she could only do so much on a few small sites per year.

“I know. I’ll keep it down for as long as I can, take your time”, Winston's voice over the comms was diluted, as if every word was an understanding yet solemn groan, “just remember to ingest your dosages of additive oxygen and to come back once you’ve run out. Helix has yet to give you a pack for extended travels.”

Her eyes widened as she reached towards her back to a satchel, “Shit!”, fumbling through the excess supplies in order to grab an inhaler. Wider, a larger capsule on top with a button on the side, she gave herself the dosage to continue, feeling her lungs scratch and heave as the new oxygen entered her system. 

On an expedition two years prior, working for helix, she had encountered a tomb with a noxious gas that ruptured her lungs. She could still function, but not without some kind of oxygen support. Her desire to be out in the field proved greater than the need to stay in a hospital to recover, so amidst routine checkups and operations, the company had assigned her oxygen doses, inhaler units with an additive that temporarily healed the lungs, or at the very least kept the damage at bay, for when she was out in the desert. 

“Alright. I’ve taken the dosage, but that was my last one”, Lena quickly looked around the room, wondering where she would go next.

Winston's voice became more concerned, “Lena you can’t stay there then! You need to head back, the supplement won't hold out for as long as you need it-”

“Sorry love-”, before Winston could finish, she shut off her comms, “-but not today.”, looking around the expansive world trapped in time, “not with this.” This was one of the largest discoveries she made under the guise of a Helix scout, let alone as an archeologist. She was damned if she was going to let this opportunity slip through her fingers.

As she stood up from her temporary abode of cobwebs in the corner where she had rested, Lena returned to the observation of the rectangular room. Each side had an opening that led somewhere, with the two to her sides leading to courtyards respectively, and the one in front of her leading to some kind of temple. She proceeded down the middle, thinking that the courtyard could wait in the morning upon her return.

“If I can make it back in time”, she mused to herself as she proceeded down the corridor. Looking at the walls there were fading hieroglyphics, but as she went on the glyphs changed to what looked like runes and-  
“Bloody hell” scratches, claw marks. Several of them running down the halls. She followed the indentions all the way to a chamber. Within it was an altar, lit dimly by the moonlight, though looking around not much else was there but a hole, carved out of the wall, seemingly crumbling over the years, large enough for her to go into.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she passed the altar and proceeded into the hole, lighting a flare as she entered. From the inside, it looked like a decline of sand, not too steep, but somewhere where she should be careful regardless. As she took a step inside however, she felt something slip.

A stray stone had been caught under one of her boots causing her to fall backward, panicking she crawled away desperately, but it was too late, as whatever remaining rocks that held the small passageway had crumbled in front of her, trapping her inside. Before she could scream the sand inside the cavern began to wash down upon Lena, sending her sliding down the slope of dust and rubble. She dexterously avoided sharp stalactites, narrowly avoided thin passageways, and with one final loud thump after navigating the dangerous maze on instinct and wit, she tumbled into the center of a nearly pitch black dome, the flare soon lighting it up to be a buried tomb, filled with treasures and rusty coins.

Upon regaining her composure and grabbing her still functional torch, more stones collapsed behind her, now trapping Lena inside the tomb with riches never meant to be found, and like her, never to be seen again.

She thoroughly looked around her, “okay, no big deal...just stuck in a room full of treasure”, as she picked up a handful of coins.

Before dropping them onto the ground and thoroughly screaming to the point where the walls to the room shook. She never wanted it to end this way, her comms smashed, out of oxygen supply, there was so much more for her to see, and her rotten luck had placed her within a cavern of what was now junk, as nothing in here would have possibly been able to help her escape.

Lena furiously tossed through the objects, candelabras, swords, carpets, utensils, and, “CHRIST!”

As she was throwing and digging through the objects, her hand dusted something she had picked up, quickly sliding across the side of the object, but quickly dropping it as she saw the visage of a long-legged spider, it’s legs ready to pounce on anything it saw. She threw herself back into a stone clump as the object flew from her hands and into the pile of gold.

Lena took a moment to compose herself, looking deeply into the form of the spider. Her curiosity then compelling her to observe it closely, coming to the conclusion that if this is where she was to die, she might as well take her time to observe and understand what she just fell in. As Lena got right up to the spider, she noticed then that it was some kind of, brass sculpture.

“Still looks like you could’ve bloody well killed me”, she remarked as she went to go pick up the object. What she saw next was, intriguing to her, to say the least. Within Lena’s grasp, was a brass oil lamp, ornate in design, yet...with a spider motif. She wiped off the dust that covered it, noticing the web-like inscriptions on its base, her eyes occasionally flickering back to the spider. As she wiped off the last speck of dust from the lamp, till it almost shined in the light of her flare, she placed it beside her as she rested on the nearest slump of support she could find.

“Not like a wish is gonna get me out of here”, she grimly mused. Looking around at the cavalcade of treasures around her. “Guess this is it for me.”

As sleep began to take her, seemingly for the last time, as she was about to dream of Winston, of her friends, of her home.

...Clack….

Something within the cave had moved. Lena jolted from her rest, scanning her limited horizon, the outline of the treasure lit by the now flickering torch. As her heart rate increased and her breaths became more rapid, she frantically looked to the lamp. The darkness around her consumed the object so that it was barely visible, but she could have sworn that the spider was missing. 

“Maybe I’m just thinking things”, she figured aloud. Lena was at death's door as it was, what could possibly-

What she felt next was the small and rapid prickling feelings of legs scurrying up her arm and onto her chest, her nerves and now sudden fear caused her to stare where the sensation had stopped and seen eight, red, gleaming eyes, illuminating a brass form. The spider from the lamp had...moved.

Before she could properly analyze the situation, the spider threw itself back and sunk its metal fangs deep into her chest, their spear tip ends seemingly extending beyond her gear and skin down to her flesh and blood. She screamed as she lurched back, the spider flying off, blood seeping off of its teeth as it landed gracefully, scurrying back to what Lena now believed to be the lamp.

Lena ran for her dying torch, leaping back to the spot of the lamp hopefully before the spider got away, but all too late as it was back on top of the lamp. The blood it had absorbed seemingly seeping into the metal of the lamp, some filling the spiderweb patterns engraved onto it. She cautiously picked up the lamp, seeing where else the blood had gone. But before she could notice anything else, she breathed.

She breathed normally. It didn’t feel as if her lungs were ever damaged, to begin with, they were healed. What she then saw was a gleaming blue light burst from her chest, a quick gust of pressure overwhelming her before she regained composure, and then felt something warm she was holding.

Her head slowly turned to the lamp, glowing a brighter and brighter red, the metal shifting and contorting within her grasp. Lena grabbed the lamp as tightly as she could, but it continued to squirm and writhe, among the scratching metal a laugh could be heard, low, sultry, and a touch bit tired. As the object grew bright red it spat out sparks that came out of the spout, lighting up the cavern revealing it to be larger and taller than Lena had initially suspected. From then the lamp almost tried to break free of her hold, Lena struggling to keep the now alive object in check as it spat out energy and heat like a wild firecracker, seemingly dragging her across the cavern.

At the center of the room, the lamp grew lighter, a plume of deep purple and luscious pink smoke began to escape from the spout, sparks flying from the spout still, the sound of what seemed like erupting flame filling the room. A final flash of light escaped the lamp as a larger cloud of smoke rushed out from the spout, the weight of the object now as light as it was before it seemingly awakened. Lena looked up to the ceiling to see the smoke form into something, and the light form into a circular shape, three cut segments of a ring, encircling a symbol, maybe a rune of some kind as Lena observed, containing a triangle that connected the three-ring pieces, a set of three circles surrounding the triangle. The symbols energy then shot into the smoke, swirling around the now booming and, seemingly yelling thundercloud. Its form began to shimmer and expand as it continued to groan, and what Lena saw next nearly took her breath away.

Arising or being formed from the smoke was a humanoid body, imposing, strong, majestic even. Light purple skin began to show, the same symbol Lena had seen earlier form on their shoulder, which was also adorned with a wrapped bronze jewelry piece of some sort. The figure continued to spin, waving near black and blueish hair flowed freely, connected to a ponytail that was in between two goat-esque horns. As the figure began to become more clear, it stopped in front of Lena looking down upon her with two golden yellow eyes that pierced her soul. The hair flowed around them as the seemingly magic smoke swirled and illuminated the room with their bodies pinkish-glow. Two bronze armbands were sealed tightly on their lower arms, their horns tipped with golden caps, on their right ear a single hooped earring, their eye shadow a different shade of glistening purple akin to their lips, and their body adorned in what seemed like armor, chainmail in construction, in a similar color scheme to both their body, or rather her body. 

Lena was looking at a woman...a horned, long-haired, imposing...warrior woman of smoke and flame that, popped out of a lamp,”...no way”, Lena ended up whispering to herself, as she gazed upon the woman's face; seemingly tired, stressed, but ethereally beautiful

The woman then spoke to her, their voice booming and echoing through the cave as her arms crossed her breasts, “Tremble, meager wanderer. For you have summoned the djinn of the lamp, and have become my mistress. Name unto your servant your wishes three, and I shall see them fulfilled.”

Lena was, utterly breathless despite her newfound lungs functioning “Wh-what?”, her own speech was now meek, almost without sound itself.

The woman saw this, her eyebrow cocked to the side as she floated down to her...summoner? Mistress? Lena honestly didn’t know what she did, or what, or rather whom, she had seemingly brought forth from the lamp.

She spoke to Lena in the same deep and slow tone, “The summons have been made, the introductions yet still unfinished, but you are, confused?”

Lena squeaked, “I-I’m not even sure if you’re real.”

The woman held out her hand, “Hold it, and then tell your meager servant that she is not real still.”, She seemed annoyed almost, her own brow furrowing not in anger, but as if she lacked sleep. Lena nodded slowly, taking one of the gloves off of her hand after attaching the lamp to her satchel, gently placing her hand onto the woman's. 

It was warm, she had a pulse, but something felt...different. Her skin was soft, inhumanly soft. Her body radiated a bright yet gentle pink aura that lit the whole tomb. “Okay. You’re real. But you, you’re a-”

“Genie?”, the woman's hand retracted smoothly, a light of feeling seemingly returning to her face, “The proper term is Djinn, Mistress, but that works all the same.”

Lena shook her head, rubbed her eyes, shook her body, whatever it took to-

“You’re not dreaming, Mistress.”, The Djinn looked at Lena, now more annoyed than she had previously been. Her fingers scratching the sides of her arms out of boredom. 

“Well then, what am I doing then? I’m stuck in here but just...and now I found you and...for whatever reasons my lungs work and I’m just, confused”, Lena frantically paced about the room, the Djinn watching her frantically walk from one end to the other.

With a sigh, the Djinn floated over to Lena in an instant, the smoke causing the wind around them to furl and whistle as she appeared before her, “The lamp heals the summoner of any illness and curse before I am summoned, it’s something I managed to implement before I was imprisoned within it around fifteen hundred years ago. That symbol you see is proof of that healing, and of our bond, Mistress.”

Lena took the time to listen to the Djinns explanation, looking to her chest to find the same symbol that had sprung from the lamp, a light blue aura as it remained on her center. Then looking to the Djinn, finding the same tattoo with the same inscription she saw when they were summoned. “Oh. Uhm, I-I don’t, okay. Alright. I guess I’m fine now.”

“Be warned, Mistress”, The Djinn moved closer to Lena, the scouts face growing a slight hue of red as she blushed upon seeing her face in more detail. Eyelashes and eyeshadow that could kill, the same yellow eyes that washed over her form as the Djinn gazed upon her, lips that could draw her blood dry, “when our contract is finished upon the third wish, your body will return to the way it was before I was called.”

“Oh, well, let’s make the most out of that time? Or not grant any wishes? Something like that?”, Lena was borderline one hundred and ten percent flustered at this rate being so close to someone this...divine if there was a word to describe this djinn woman.

Said Djinn couldn’t help but laugh, almost mockingly so, “My first mistress in fifteen hundred years, and she suggests I don’t grant a wish to take time?!”

Lena protested, “Well, yeah, I’m serious, and my name's, not Mistress or anything like that. It’s Lena.”

The Djinn merely cackled lowly, “Sure, use your name, it will simply be another lost to time once you’re done with me. You’ll use those wishes in time, Mistress”, The Djinns sarcastic tone turned contemptible. Their expression growing more frustrated, yet it felt forced, almost masking something she couldn’t really see at the moment through attempting to maintain her sultry sway.

But the scout wasn’t about to back down, “I won’t. Promise. I just, well for one I’m no mistress or anything like that, and for another, I’d much rather be called by my actual name, especially with someone I’ve just met. What even is your name anyway?”, one way or another, she was going to get on the right track with this...Djinn, god she couldn’t believe still she was even seeing this.

With a displeased sound and a sneer, the Djinn crossed their arms. She floated upwards, purple stature towering over Lena's small form. Their smoky tail was still connected to the lamp, as she growled, “My name is Amelie if you must know, Lena. If my mistress does not want to believe in the power she commands with me in her possession, I advise you to wisen up, rather quickly. Uncertainty about my existence is one thing, but doubting my powers is never wise”

Lena advanced towards Amelie, standing on the center gathering to bring herself to her height, “Well, we’re stuck here, and I’d like to believe that, if I even can at this point that this, mystical woman before me popped out of a lamp like the stories and all that, you wouldn’t want to waste a wish, of three we have, on simply escaping the cave.”

Amelie placed her fingers under her chin delicately, a small sly grin curling at the corners of her mouth, the sense of frustration that she once exuded seemingly giving way to intrigue, “Hmm. Very well, Lena.”, She spun around her summoner two times, her smoke tail extending, and a formation of clouds that connected to her body trailed before her, “I bid you sit”, as she extended her banded hands to the smoke.

Lena did a double take between Amelie and the clouds, “....you serious?”

“Oui”, Amelie quipped, her grin shifting from a sly expression to a smug smile.

“Wait, hold on, you’re French?”, Lena questioned as she slowly made her way to the smoke that was essentially Amelie herself in vaporeal form.

Amelie couldn’t help but laugh a little from the sheer obliviousness of this small british agent of sorts, “You didn’t pick up on that from the moment you released me?”

“Well, excuse and pardon me, oh mighty Djinn, that I just found out exists and whose body turned smoke I’m-”, as she spoke, she slowly lowered her body into the smoke, scrunching her face, expecting Amelie to have played a trick on her, and yet,”-sitting. sitting on right now.”

The Djinn couldn’t have looked more proud of herself as Lena was flustered, “L-look, that! THAT! A little bit focused on the fact I just unleashed a bloody genie from a lamp here!!!”

“Oh-”, Amelie cooed playfully, “I don’t know Lena, something tells me you’re still unconvinced of the opportunity you have before you”, as she waved her hands to her body, then to the lamp.

“Well, I mean I’m sitting on smoke, floating...magic smoke-Is this magic? This is magic, I mean, y-you’re MAGIC!!!”, Lena was enthralled, still wracked with the notion of what was even going on.

“Mmmm, non. I still don’t think you’re sure”, Amelie's voice was drenched in sarcasm as she casually flung her right arm to the ceiling, without even looking away from Lena. Magic strings and symbols began rapidly twirling around her right arm as she clenched her fist, releasing the grasp as the energy shot through the surface and cracked the sky with the sound of a heavy rifle, “I think we need to go on a ride first.”

Lena’s breath was a near vacuum now, “I-I'm sorry, okay? Sorry! You have magic powers, you blasted a hole through the roof and-”

“Shhhhhh, we are not yet finished, my Lena~”, Amelie looked to the open hole, the moon shining down upon her magical bodice, the glow around her from now more ethical than originally, “The clouds will keep you in place, but if you need to hold on I’ll understand.”

“Wait, hold on, wait Wait WAIT”, As Lena pleaded for Amelie to hold on for a few moments, the Djinn merely laughed purely as she ascended the two of them into the skies, her arms outstretched as the wind curled across her face, her joy overwhelming as she escaped the cave with her summoner and began flying into the heavens. Lena, admittedly surprised that the clouds were holding her in place, made a b-line towards Amelie’s armor covered back, bracing onto it as tightly as she could. She could feel the Djinn’s breaths, the way her skin vibrated as she laughed with glee as they continued to soar faster and faster above the ruins. The lamp safely tied into Lena’s belt held just as strong, and Lena, now furiously blushing, burrowed her head and eyes into Amelie’s neck, the touch of her skin nearly sending Lena into a daze as it was warm and alive, the pulse of her veins soothing the scout as she held on for dear life, despite Amelie’s assurance.

At a point, they eventually stopped, Lena’s body shivering with anxiety and fear as gravity compelled her to come back down to the ground, but the fall never came, the feeling itself even subsiding. Her eyes still closed, a now gentler voice spoke out to her, “Lena. You can open your eyes now.”

“Y-you sure?”, hearing Amelie reassure her wasn’t...all that soothing, yet, still being strangers and all. 

“Please, Lena. I won’t let you fall, on my oath as your Djinn.”, Amelie’s touch was still warm, and her voice was as soothing as silk. Lena’s eyes slowly opened to find herself and Amelie in the same sky she once looked at before finding her. Now glistening with stars and pillowy clouds, and the look of warmth, and comfort, from the eyes of Amelie.

“These. These weren’t here before, did you-?”

“Yes, all of these, Lena.”, Amelie gently turned her form around to face her front towards Lena, her arms now placed upon her shoulders, “You’ve nothing to fear, trust me.”, her expression was, desperate? Lena couldn’t tell immediately but, something was up. She tried to return the favor, reaching gently for one of Amelie’s arms, but was gently pushed a distance away, still sitting on the smoke tail, still looking at this...this beautiful woman, probably trapped for thousands of more years than she could know, and all she could do at that moment was just, stare at her. Admiring the being and person that she met, her form glistening in the moonlight.

God if I wasn’t gay before, Lena thought to herself.

Amelie raised a brow for a moment, “You’re sure you want me to stay, no wishes in mind?”, her fingers were raised to her lips, her nails almost about to be bitten by her teeth, as her essence curled around Lena. A now sweating, flustered, admiring, and blushing Lena, the smoke trails of her form teasing her cheeks and hips. 

Lena gawked, “Y-yeah! Of course! I wanna know more about you, about...us, the lamp, everything just, I just wanna get to know you.” The archeologist within her had come back to life, but behind that was something more. There was something Amelie was burying in within herself, something that felt like pain, maybe regret. But Lena was damned if she was gonna just leave her alone, “-and let's be something more than just, Mistress and Genie and all that, let’s be equals, yeah?”

Amelie grinned, genuinely, she hadn’t felt this elated in many years, but now it seemed as if there was a chance, a true chance, “Hmm. Yes, Lena. Let us be equals.”


	2. Instruct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An icebreaker was bound to happen sooner or later. But for Lena and her newly found djinn companion Amelie, they may have found more than they bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to brazenedMinstrel for beta-reading this chapter, and my apologies for the wait, finals have been hell and I haven't had a lot of time to write.

Atop the gentle evening sky, both scout and djinn sat together looking at one another for what seemed like hours, but in reality, mere seconds had passed, as the gusts of wind brushed their shoulders from on high. Lena seemed to not mind it so much, her mildly heavy gear tended to regulate temperature, and considering this runic symbol on her chest, in no small part thanks to Amelie, had essentially repaired her lungs, she didn’t need to worry about her supplementary intakes anymore.

What she was more curious about, however, was how Amelie was reacting to the breeze. Her eyes seemingly shut tight, but calm. Her body shuddering as the wind blew over her shoulders and played with her long hair, her smile radiant in the glistening stars of her design, and the smoke which she was comprised of, and where Lena currently sat, had grown warm, energy and sparks crackling dimly with an energy akin to joy. 

Lena determined that this warranted some friendly investigation, “So, Amelie, if it’s alright with you, do you think I could ask you a few questions? I just want to make sure because-”, her gaze locked on Amelie’s face, still observing her jubilant nature in the midst of the wind, “- well, I don’t want to rob you of this moment.”

“Oh.” Amelie’s senses returned, shocked and looking to Lena, “We can return to the ground if you want-”

“No, no, no! It’s okay!”, Lena frantically shook her hands in front of a confused, and yet amused Amelie, “It just...it just seems like you haven’t really experienced this for… god, for however long you were in there. I don’t want to stop you at all.”

Amelie took a moment to look between the moon, to Lena’s face and back again. Each turn slightly less paused with each passing moment. Lena could see something quell in Amelie as she continued, something that weighed her down, but she was still unsure. 

“Lena, as much as I would love to stay up here for”, moving closer to Lena, the distance of smoke minimizing, “well forever, if I could. But, I do believe your questions would help, for both of us.”

“Hmm, y’know, there’s a place where it’s like this on the ground. Just as fresh air, an even clearer night sky from the ground, grass, mud, trees, that sort of thing. It’s somewhere I like to go whenever I’m not on duty. Maybe I can take you there?”, Lena optimistically suggested to Amelie, her own expression beaming in the lunar aura. 

The already happy Djinn seemed extremely elevated, subduing quickly into a calmer expression, “That would be nice, but I believe we have some things to discuss, do we not?”, Amelie extended her hand to Lena, and upon her gently grasping it, the two descended back to the temple. The shift in gravity caused Lena’s stomach to nearly arise from her throat, but it wasn’t anything major, not even close to her experience as a pilot before her enlistment with Helix.

Amelie had set them down into one of the plazas of the temple, leading Lena off of her tail and onto the ground where she then floated, arms crossed, tail still connected to the spout of the lamp, “So, Lena, what is it specifically that you would ask of me?”

“Well”, Lena tapped her chin, pacing back and forth, “I think my first obvious question is why are you a djinn? Or in this lamp even? And for some mystical being trapped in an oil lamp in the middle of the desert, why are you French?” Her tone peaked with curiosity upon the last question.

Amelie couldn’t help but giggle, “I think it would be best if we took it one question at a time, Lena.” 

“As long as it's not a wish, besides,” Lena plopped to the ground, holding the lamp in hand, “I’m strangely more accustomed to the ground as is.”

They looked at each other, summoner and djinn, letting the desert winds pass through their hair.

Lena took the first pitch, “So…

“Hm?”

“You...wanna know more about me or?”

Amelie laughed quietly, “I thought we were equals, _non?_ ”

“Uhm, yeah?”

“Then we’ve already established we have covered that ground~”, Amelie said coyly.

“...okay”, Lena broke a pause, “I can’t tell if you’re fucking with me here”

Amelie chuckled, “Oh my, I didn’t think you would be this bold so soon!’

“Not. Like. That, for gods sake.”

Soon the djinn broke into a full on laugh, Lena blushing furiously, “Okay now I know you’re fucking with me.”

“If that is what you wish~”.

Lena groaned as her face became bright red, “Please. Stop. I can’t even-I’d have maybe thought a djinn, as far fetched as that used to be before I met you”, glancing up at Amelie, arms now crossed and watching very closely with interest, “but it’s as if instead of a fish out of water you know this game through and through.”

“Well”, Amelie sighed, “to be fair, I’d say you are very much new to this yourself!”

Lena sighed in turn, a bit more downtrodden, “Seeing as how I’d rather not control you and make a wish, yeah, I’d say I am.”

Amelie’s face fell, her expression darkened though not with fear. Rather with understanding, sadness, and perhaps regret, “I am sorry, Lena.”

“No, you’re fine”, Lena replied, quickly and embarrassed all the same.

Amelie in a similar situation, “But I-”

“I think you’ve suffered a lot, so it’s more touchy for you if I feel down and out about, more or less owning you.”, Lena’s lungs filled with dread when she said that, “Well that’s a fistful of nope in a sentence going through my nerves, but what I’m trying to say is that clearly, I should be sorry.”

Amelie protested, “Yes, but I still pushed you!”

Lena grinned a bit, “Well, that makes both of us twats, doesn’t it?”

Amelie chuckled to herself, “I suppose it does, doesn’t it?”

“Feel fine starting over?”, Lena piped up, getting herself comfortable before the upcoming conversation

As she continued to float before Lena, Amelie's expression softened once more, “Sure Lena, lets.”

“Right then!”, Lena settled into the dusty corner of flat, cold stone, to Amelie's displeasure.  
“Well”, she said, “I think I already have a question.”

“Shoot!”, Lena quipped

Amelie merely tilted her head to the side, “Are you comfortable?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?”, Lena shrugged, thought it was a bit of an odd question.

Amelie just stared at her, “That’s solid stone temple ground, with none of the commodities it once had.”

“Yeah? Well.” Lena thought to herself a moment, perhaps a tad insulted, “I like it.”

Amelie huffed, snapping her fingers with a spark, materializing a small tent around them, two piles of pillows appearing beneath the both of them, her smoke tail still locked to the lamp’s spout, lounging on the side with a smug grin of her own, “I don’t think that will do, Lena.”

Lena scoffed, “you did that on purpose didn’t you?”

The djinn merely smirked, “And if I did?”

The scout laughed to herself, her new djinn companion joining her in a few moments, it was a pleasant echo they both shared. Both light tones from Lena and deeper sounds from Amelie bellowed and reverberated within the small tent, the warmth within their chests unknowingly shared between them. “Right then, I get it, besides you did it of your own will, that’s, a start I guess?”

Amelie recomposed herself, “I suppose it is. Now, I believe it is your turn?”

“Alright then”, Lena pondered, eventually picking up the lamp, Amelie’s smoke still locked in the spout, “How comfortable are you in here?”

Amelie’s eyebrow cocked to the side, upwards, almost impressed, “Well, look at you, going from a halt to a full sprint in seconds.”

Lena posed her back upright, pursuing her question, “Well, I can’t imagine that it is?”

“It’s not it’s...It’s anything but.”, Amelie’s gaze began to slowly drift, her eyes vacantly locked onto Lena’s hands,” Cramped and frigid metal walls, darkness save for one spot of grim light from the spout of the lamp. What makes it all worse is that I can feel everything around me. Can you imagine? A prison cell with the keys barely out of reach, and it taunts you every day.”

The air hung with silence, Lena sitting looking at the lamp in her hands, her stomach sinking further than she thought it could, “Shit. I’m sorry about that.”  
Amelie snapped out of her haze and shook her head, “An apology is not necessary here either. You released me, for now, at least.”

“Well, still.”, ‘for now at least’, those words began to sink into Lena’s head.

Amelie merely shook her head, “Lena, please. You weren’t the one who put me in there, it is fine.”

Now Lena was getting a bit frustrated, “Then who did?”

Amelie took a long time to think about Lena’s question before responding, as something was clearly struck, but perhaps sooner or later it would come to light, just not now, “...I believe it was my turn now.”

To which Lena mildly deflated, “Oh, yeah, right, go for it.” (nervous)

Then it was Amelie's turn to pursue, floating slightly closer in front of her summoner, “Why are you really here, Lena?”

Lena’s own response was a humph mixed with indiscriminate grunting, as if struggling to compose an answer, “I’m here studying artifacts, ruins, temples, didn’t think I’d find, well-”

“An all-powerful djinn?”

“That, yeah.”

Amelie looked sad, perhaps a bit more depressed than she had been before, though the burning dread in her heart was not for her nor her imprisonment-

-Something Lena seemed to catch on to, “What?”

Amelie sighed, “Is that what your masters told you?”

Lena shot up from her seat of pillows, shocked, “What?! I’m employed by Helix, I’m not enslaved to them-”

“Then why are you really here, Lena?”, having placed herself even closer to Lena, Amelie wanted to make sure Lena fully understood what she had truly asked her.

It began to sink in for her, “I’m scouting out tactical positions, this whole majestic palace, temple, whatever it once was, it’s going to be a military base in enough time. Hell, it doesn’t matter if I’m dead or alive, they’d probably trash the place anyways. These walls, this history,” she looked deeply into Amelie’s golden eyes, her heart weighed down by her gaze, “you. If I hadn’t found you-”

Amelie places a hand on Lena’s shoulder, “I am glad you did, then.”

Suddenly Lena’s heart was not only heavy but increasingly warm, a very gay kind of warm, ”As am I.”

Amelie smiled, “I’m still finding all of this hard to believe, that someone even would summon me.”

“Weren’t given much freedom were you?”, Lena didn’t really give much thought to that question. Granted she knew next to nothing about Djinns outside of texts, stories, but never from the primary source.

Amelie huffed a small laugh, aware of the mistake, “What part of ‘slave of the lamp’ do you not understand the first time?”

Lena in a split second smacked her head with her palm in immediate shame, “Sorry! Sorry, still just-getting used to all this”

Amelie smiled, and sat down next to Lena, “ _Non_ , don’t be. It is understandable”

Lena still couldn’t manage to maintain herself, “S-so, my t-turn?”

“Sure, I think I’ve put you through enough stress for one day.”, Amelie’s body leaned to the side, trying to get comfortable in the air.

“How reassuring… so,” Lena wanted to follow up her error with a question that would help illuminate her situation,” how’d you get trapped in there anyway?”

“The lamp?”, Amelie grew slightly tense,” Well, it wasn’t so much of being trapped, as much as it was being enslaved, lured, kept and bound. Being trapped on accident might have been better, had it not been for-”

Before she could continue, Lena’s intercom began to ring loudly, startling both of them.

The poor scout felt a tad bit more embarrassed, “I’m sorry, could I-?”

But Amelie wasn’t all that sure of what was happening, “What is...that?”

“Uh, a...a phone? Do you know what those are?”, Lena wasn’t wholly sure on how long Amelie was trapped, so this seemed like a natural question.

“Somewhat?”

“Fair enough.”, the scout then directed her attention to what would most likely be the sounds of her worried co-workers, “This is Lena, what’s wrong?”

“Lena?”, sure enough, Winston was on the other line, “Thank goodness you’re alright, I was worried you-”

“Wait, why are you whispering?”, that was odd, Lena never took Winston to be too quiet in tense situations

“Well...you see”, nor was she used to his sudden uncertainty, ”I happen to have, uh, garnered the attention of, someone.”

“Well speak up then!”, Lena exclaimed, “I can’t even hear you-”

“Lena???”

Amelie’s pointed ears perk up, her earrings swaying in the wind as her eyes widen as she hears the voice.

Which to a suddenly sullen Lena, now groaning a tired hrmmf that was dripping in a mixture of embarrassment and general displeasure, “Oh fuck. Hey, Angie.”

“Where have you been?!”, Angie’s volume on the other line nearly caused the system to malfunction.

“Scouting out and having a bit of fun to myself in the ruins.”, Lena was getting frustrated again, “C’ mon we talked about this.”

“And we talked about how you’re in no condition to keep doing this recklessly!”, Angie’s volume was still high.

Lena’s whole being was growing more aggressive with each push to seemingly get off the field, “Well it’s not like you’d be able to come along, you’re too busy dealing with management!”

“And you don’t think I’ve been worried sick about you?”, this Angie wasn’t one to back down easily,” For fuck's sake Lena, it’s been hours since your last dosage, you’re going to die out there!”

Amelie now held onto Lena, the scout feeling the djinns fingers press deeply into her skin, her chest locked onto Lena’s back, “Yeah, but-”

The voice continued to cry and command, “I’m sorry, but come tomorrow I am going to make sure you no longer go out into the field! You can’t keep doing this!”

Before Lena could protest, she felt Amelie’s neck press against her shoulders as her head went past Lena’s, looking further into the intercom she had held. She could feel the djinn’s vocal cords hum against her neck as Amelie cried, “Angela?!”

All Lena heard next were a series of choked gasps from the other end, “Oh...oh Mein Gott”

“Angela is that you?”, Amelie’s voice continued to waver.

They could hear Angie's increasingly panicked breaths on the other line before, “... Lena, I need you to listen carefully to me.”

“Oh? Uhm, sure, what is it?”, Lena thought that Angie’s change was a bit sudden for her, and was still processing that she somehow knew Amelie.

“Take some time before you come back or...you know what is your friend there?”, now Angela had a different drive behind her voice. 

“Yeah, she uh,” Lena then remembered to address Angela about Amelie,” wait, hold on you know her?”

The voice’s volume shot up again, “Just have her come here!”

Amelie pushed herself closer to Lena’s hand holding the intercom, “What is it, Angela?”

The sounds of items moving in the background could be heard from the receiver, “I don’t know if this will work, but place your hand on Lena’s device”

Amelie did as she was asked, her palm placed flatly upon the porous holes of the speaker. Angela's voice on the other end distorted and twisted, speaking an unknown language to Lena that grew louder and more guttural. As she continued to speak energy began to surge through Amelie’s hand and up to her arms, arcing in electrical sparks across her skin, her symbol on her right shoulder beginning to glow.

Angela’s voice was panicked, “That should give you enough leeway to grant a free pass to you.”  
Amelie's hand shook, “I can handle it from here.”

Lena, now more fucking confused than she was before, piped up, “Wait, what the hell?”

Angela ignored her from the other end, “You have seconds, just get back here, I’ll get things ready-”

The comm cuts out, Lena panics, “Okay, what was that?”

Amelie grabbed Lena tightly, the energy causing her limbs to shake, “Make a wish.”

“What?!”

“I have enough power to grant you an extra wish, this won’t be one of the three.”

“I just told you I wasn’t going to-”

Amelie screamed, “Just make the wish!” 

Lena huffs and holds the lamp, “FINE, I wish for you to take us back to Angela in the Helix Headquarters she’s at!”

Amelie's body contorts as the magic courses through her body, the shackles burning brightly, lighting streaks coursing through her arms, “Your wish, is my command!”, she clasps her hands together sending the energy outward, the tent they were in shaking, but not enough to disturb them. Amelie breathes heavily, Slowly falling onto Lena but grasping her shoulders.

Lena panics, “Shit are you alright?”

Amelie looks at her chest, the glowing symbol still intact, the three dots still full, “Can you check my shoulder, the right one?”

Lena looks over, “Circle rune with three circles, still there.”

Amelie breathes a sigh of relief, “Then we have more than enough time to rest before we arrive, this tent will appear in this base you spoke of, we just need to stay inside while my magic and the sands take us there”, She sits down on the pillows, Lena following behind with the lamp, settling to the side of Amelie.

“Wanna talk before we get there?”

Amelie looks over to Lena, “You had asked before why I was French”, she settles into the cushions and readjusts her gaze, “I believe you are owed that explanation you asked for.” In a moment of hesitation, Amelie was about to speak, yet stopped. Her eyes locked onto her hands, lost in a trance of her own design.

Lena took a moment to try and vie for her attention, “Hey, it’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it yet if you don’t want to.”

Amelie shook her head from her own thought, “No, it’s fine.”, as she fiddled with her fingers,” I was originally a demon, in France. Not of a particularly high level, but of noble status regardless.”

“Here I thought the horns were something a genie just had by looking at you.” Lena pointed, almost tracing the shape in the air with her finger.

Amelie herself touched them, rough and coarse, yet polished, “You may observe them if you wish~”

Lena was fairly certain her heart was beating out of her chest. She hoped the collar of her jacket was high enough to hide the blush she felt creeping up on her cheeks.

“But in any case,” Amelie continued,” I had existed long before the age of The French Revolution, before some of the more notable nobles. I could have my way around the globe if I so desired.”

“Maybe I’ll get to have some of that treatment in the future. Definitely not right now, bit out of my league, but it's a neat thought.”, Lena was mildly flustered, unsure of how quickly her small request would ignite into something larger.

Amelie took note of this, and floated besides Lena, settling down next to her, at shoulder height, “Perhaps one day we shall, but we've got a long road before we get there.” She returned to her contemplative thinking, looking off to the side as Lena slowly removed one of her gloves, “I soon grew tired of the commonalities and rivalries of the court, the toys, the laws, the money. It became so...dull.”

“Well, there had to be something you enjoyed, right?” Lena was still entrenched into the pillows and her jacket, but moved her hands slowly upwards towards the horns, her palms gaining a minimum amount of sweat as she crept forward.

Her breath was nearly taken when Amelie had grasped her open hand, the djinn’s skin was cold, frigid, but smooth as lavender. She pulled the small woman's hand to her horns, rough, sleek, just as chilling. She allowed Lena to stroke them, all the way down to the golden crowns on either side of her head before she spoke at last, “Touch. Of all the things in the world then, and”, she paused, her arms trembling and a shiver furiously coursing through her spine, “even now, after so many years. The simplest of things can often be the most treasured when you’ve had most of eternity to contemplate.”

Lena took pause, whomever Amelie was, she had been suffering for longer than any human could imagine, least of all herself, “I’m….I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to prod.” She was about to pull away from her horns, before Amelie grasped her hand once more, keeping Lena’s hands on them.

“ _Non_. You did not, I bid you stay here...please. It’s been a while since I’ve had company I could talk and touch”, Amelie’s golden eyes stared deeply into Lena’s, the weight of potential centuries pouring from one set of irises to another as if Lena was staring into a well of history and accompanied suffering.

“Sure thing. Don’t mention it”, Lena grasped onto her hand tighter, even pulling Amelie a little closer to her side. The djinn slowly curled into her body, which didn’t help Lena in terms of what was quickly becoming one of the gayest experiences in her life, but that had to take a seat next to emotionally supporting this tormented and once trapped soul. Somehow mustering the confidence of an entire regiment of soldiers, Lena wrapped her free arm around Amelie's shoulders, embracing her in a side hug which nearly brought the summoned djinn to tears.

The tent suddenly was brought to a stop, and Amelie's breath escaped her lungs.

“You gonna be okay?”, Lena asked.

Amelie took a moment to reply, “Yes, I believe so, but. Can I ask you a favor?”

Lena still held to Amelie tightly, “Sure thing, what is it?”

“I…”, Amelie hesitated, thinking deeply before saying, “let me go in the lamp.”

Lena was shocked, “What, why?”

“I need you to summon me in front of Angela.”

“Why would I-”

“I need you to trust me.”

Lena wasn’t sure of what Amelie’s plan was, but whatever she was planning, she must have had a reason, “...well I do.”

Amelie closed her eyes, tears dropped and poured from her eyelids as her body turned to smoke, violently forming a vortex that spun madly, and was absorbed through the spout of the lamp. The metal shaking to indicate she was still conscious and present.

Lena exits the tent with a sigh, heavy heart, Angela standing right in front of her, Winston in the location too, whispering to the lamp, “You’d better be right about this.”

Who stood before her was a battle-hardened woman in doctors garments, blonde hair haphazardly pulled up into a ponytail, any remnants flopping onto her forehead, piercing blue eyes that could break down the will of any hardened soldier, but eyelids that looked like she hadn’t slept in ten years and counting, “Are we alone, Winston?”

Winston, a large man, slightly larger than his peers, of dark skin and well-groomed beard of black and grey complexion, ran behind Angela after having locked the last door, “Cameras are down, the area is secured. But whatever you have planned you’d better do it quickly, I can only keep this up for so long.”

“Angela”, Lena began to approach.

Angela notices the rune on her chest, “Where is Amelie?”, her voice wavering.

Lena slowly brought out the lamp, Angela's eyes flaring open and beginning to tear up as Lena rubbed the side of the prison of her djinn companion. The smoke plumed from the spout, swirling, twisting and elegantly rising to form Amelie, her arms crossed exuding great pressure and power. Though her face was then drenched in tears that still dripped from her eyes as they opened., “Is that really you...Angela?”

Angela began to step forward as Amelie’s arms opened slowly. The doctor's clothes flew and burnt with each step she took. Pink fire scorched her feet to reveal black cloven hooves, marble white armor with pink accents. Her blonde hair gave way to hot pink, horns forming on her forehead, similar to Amelie’s, though more upright, pointed. Her blue eyes turned to a red-pink, and a tail swaying back and forth appeared as she stood before Amelie, her own tears now flowing freely. As the emotions welled within her, she leaped into Amelie’s arms, the two spun and floated as they danced in their embrace, sobbing into each other's arms. With Lena and Winston thoroughly confused.

Angela looked upon Amelie, her suddenly impish from revealed, uttering her words in a wobbly voice from having seen her as if she was a friend long lost to time, “I missed you so much.”


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long-awaited gathering of companions begins, as the road to the future is laid vaguely before them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to brazenedMinstrel for beta-reading once again!

It seemed as though the embrace between Amelie and Angela would never end, a beautiful combining swirl of pink and purple magic from both otherworldly friends combining with each other. Tears flowed freely from their eyes, and for a moment no words needed to be spoken, their unity was seemingly all they needed at the moment, as Lena looked on wondering how long it had been since either friend had seen one another.

All the while, Lena had grown comfortable, and her spirit brightened when she saw them together, and couldn’t help looking at Winston with a growing bout of laughter dwelling in her lungs. She had already become a friend, at least it felt that way, with Amelie, so she had experienced the otherworldly beforehand, thus it was entertaining, to say the least, to see Winston sweat bullets and wonder what his world really comprised of. 

"Everything okay over there bruv? You look like your life got turned upside down.”

He had to shake his head to even snap his attention away from the present genie-like creature and demonic co-worker, "Something tells me you’ve had more experience with this than I have, so of course, I am having a difficult time coming to grips with the existence of...uhm-"

"Magic? Immortality? Demons? Wishes?", Lena herself was surprised to even be listing these off without much thought.

Winston just blinked, unable to give a readable expression, "sure."

After a facade of an eternity, Amelie and Angela separated their embrace, the former continuing to float upon her legs of flowing smoke and energy, while the latter cocking one eyebrow to the side, and forming two translucent sharp wings behind her back, flapping about as she floated on an equal level to the djinn.

Winston almost keeled over, “Of course, of course, she has wings, why didn’t I guess it?"

"If there is something that unnerves you, Winston, it would be best if you let me know in private company, as opposed to in front of my long lost friend." Angela didn’t even bother to look at him as she spoke, she only continued to look on with admiration at Amelie.

He didn’t really mind, "I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, but your secret’s safe with me."

“I…”, this was definitely unexpected though. Normally Angela would receive screams, sometimes terror filled apologies and half-empty promises, but something about Winston's response felt genuine, which was refreshing she supposed, “thank you, Winston, that feels a bit too trusting for your mortal kind, but I hope to see you dispel my caution in time."

Amelie wiped the tears from her face, "Now, would you mind telling me what one of my dear friends has been doing operating in this band of mercenaries?"

"We’re not merc-"

"Lena", Amelie looked back at her companion and summoner, a little tired with her still prolonged denial, "remember what I brought up with you being under the surveillance and control of this organization?"

"Yeah, but I mean-"

"We’ll discuss it later Lena", Angela piped up, "I’ll need you to trust me in that regard, but for right now we have priorities on our hands."

"Now", the djinn mock-dusted off her clothes, "where were we? Last time I recall you still had a list of suitors that was grander than mine."

" _Oh Mein Gott_ ," Angela could barely contain her laughter, "you’re still holding onto that grudge? The time spent locked up in that dinky little brass teapot has truly done a number to your brain, Amelie."

"Perhaps, must be the weight of eternal servitude weighing down on my mind." There was a mild tinge of sorrow in Amelie’s voice. A jest to be sure, but still masking greater anguish she carried.

Angela wasn’t about to have any of it, "Well now that we’ve finally found each other, I’ll be damned if that wretched lamp takes you away again, I’m not losing you twice...if I could I would trade places with you in a heartbeat-"

"Don’t say that!", the djinn yelled," Please, you do not know what it is you’re suggesting, let alone attempting to understand."

Lena noticed a visible pause between the two friends, and the weight of the air around them grew heavier, "Uhm, excuse me? But what are you talking about?"

The imp faced the scout, "Amelie didn’t tell you about her imprisonment?"

"I told her all she needed to know, Angela."

"And I’m trying to tell you that you needed to have talked to her more, not only am I going to make sure to free you, but I’m going to rid you of that guilt. You didn’t deserve this, at all, and it should have been me-"

Amelie’s smoke grew electrified, flaring and pulsing with energy as her tears began to flow again, "Don’t You Dare say that to me again, Angela!"

"Will you two explain to me what happened?!" Lena pouted, her blood beginning to heat as frustration and depression grew within her, "I promised to Amelie that we would be equals, that I wouldn’t wish for anything. But if there’s a way to free her I’m in on it, no questions asked. But I’m gonna need to know what happened and just whatever else there is apparently!"

Her lack of patience had bared itself for the mythical beings to see, Amelie looking upon her with growing grief, “Lena, we talked about being equals, but we never discussed my...my-"

"Your freedom, in full? I’m sorry but I’m not exactly comfortable if the person I want to help is _a slave of this-this thing!_ Now, what happened?!’’ Inside of Lena’s eyes was a burning determination and passion. 

Angela turned to Amelie, ‘Well I’ll be damned, I had given up all hope of you being found or summoned, let alone be in the hands of a noble and kind summoner. But of all the people your prison found in the hands of," she gazed at Lena, a sense of pride welling in her chest, "I believe you’ve been lucky to have her find you."

Amelie nodded slowly, looking back at Lena. Perhaps she was really her one chance at freedom, and being free of the invisible bonds that held her to the cold walls of the lamp, of releasing her from the eternal suffering and loneliness within an unfeeling prison. "So I suppose you’ll want to know how we first met?"

Lena blinked, "You and the CO? Yeah, I’m all ears, but I have a question before that."

"Name it."

She peeked over to Winston, frantically checking the doors and cameras with the utmost vigilance, "Is my other friend over there down to hear it?"

Winston snapped from his focus and looked to Lena, Amelie, and his now demonic superior Angela. His expression shifting from uncertainty to steadfast conviction, "I’ve always supported your leadership, Angela, and I’ve always had your back no matter the situation, Lena. Whatever you all need, I’ll do what I can", he looked to Amelie, with the same determination, "I promise to all of you."

Lena gave him a bright smile, and ran up to hug him, "I knew I could count on you!", needless to say, he wasn't entirely prepared, but it was welcome all the same.

She didn’t really maintain that many friends within the force, save for Winston and Angela before she had come to release Amelie, but she supposed the smaller the number, the stronger the bond was that they all shared.

"Now then luvs", turning back to Amelie and Angela, "mind telling me how you met, and then how you, Amelie, exactly got crammed into this gaudy tin can."

Amelie smiled brightly at Lena, almost about to cry once more, before composing herself and looking to Angela, sharing a very knowing look, "I believe it was that socialite ball in 1374?"

Angela couldn’t help but giggle, "For context Lena, I and Amelie are different forms of succubi. I am what you would refer to as an Imp, a kind of demon that maintains a status of command, or leadership among our kin. As for Amelie-"

"I am, or was-", her words trailed off as she stared at her shackles. Angela acting quickly to place a hand on her shoulder

"Darling, you are still a demon. Not this genie slave that...well we’ll get to that later."

Amelie refocused, still downtrodden, but willing to continue,"‘Right, as I was saying, I am what one would refer to as a hunter or a wraith. We tend to deal with combat, though more specifically, we specialize in assassination. Though an Imp isn’t one to stray from combat either."

"I still recall my sparring score being higher."

"Pfft, In your dreams _Ange~_ "

It was hard to tell if Amelie or Angela formed the wider smirk.

The latter merely shrugged with indifference, "Banter aside, I had met Amelie in a socialite ball in France, in the year 1374. It was a massive marriage consolidation if I recall."

Amelie grew more relaxed, almost leaning towards Angela as the two of them spoke, "A mass meeting of suitors, their fathers, businessmen looking to seal off trade agreements through marrying off their daughters to men they had never known."

"In all of my existence, I couldn’t have imagined a better hunting ground.", the imp hummed. It was almost as if Angela was impressed.

" _Non_ , neither could I. To be fair, I was only there for one particular target, a high ranking member of the Lacroix family."

"Ahh wait till we get to that little flame of yours." The imp soon was taken over by a small devilish grin, which Amelie wasn’t entirely fond of.

"Yes...I only wish that one, in particular, wasn’t so blindly loyal to his families dealings. But in any case, once I had killed the elder Lacroix member at the ball-"

"I ran into you, and if I recall I was there for sport. I couldn’t stand to see so much free will squandered, so many chances of a happy life ruined without any woman's consent. So we had a little game out of it, for our first meeting."

"The walls ran red with blood that day, and we drank every last soul to the very last remaining spirit. Not one wretched man made it out of that room alive."

They soon found themselves laughing together.

"The pain on their faces was _most_ enjoyable to witness and savor, and the friend I gained in you, Amelie, was the far greater satisfaction."

Amelie’s smile maintained its course, but as she spoke, "Of course, it wasn’t the first time we had gone on this spree. But...eventually-", it began to fade.

Angela placed her hand on Amelie's shoulder, her wing curling over the djinn’s back, “-some...hidden and keen individuals began to notice our activity and, sought to trap us. Bound us or punish us somehow for interfering with secret _business_.’

"Hold on", Lena piped up, "was this whole...disgusting marriage thing in the open, or in secret as you’ve stated?"

Angela looked to Lena with a knowing expression, "For proper and prior context, the organization that had organized these meetings, and the same that had bound Amelie and tried to do the same with me, has existed for generations, long before you ever came into this world."

"And their name?"

Amelie looked absentmindedly to Lena, her eyes filled with a grim fear, "Talon. Was, and is their name. They’ve worked from the shadows to ensure their invisible grasp on the world remained strong...their ranks consist of mortal and immortal beings, all of a unifying goal, but separate interests. A massive game of chess, all wrapped together with the objective of control."

"For me and Amelie, Talon saw us as some of the greatest assets that could be controlled, be made to submit."

"Forgive my intrusion-", Winston stated, slightly raising his hand, "-but how, exactly?"

Angela’s face grew sullen and bitter, "They had _hired_ help."

Amelie wrapped her arm around Angela, "You told me to learn not to blame myself, I had hopped within the confines of my lamp, that maybe you had at least done the same."

"She was your captor, your enslaver, Amelie. She did this all to you." Angela was growing tenser, her wings slowly flaring up.

"And she was your lover once…", there was a pregnant pause of time between Amelie and Angela, the imp's eyes sagging into a frown with the rest of her face.

Angela's arms crossed, slowly leaning into Amelie, "Thus it was my fault for letting her into my heart so closely."

The Djinn sighed, her friend had never seemed to let go of this pain, even after all of her years trapped inside the lamp,"...in any case, she was commanded to set out and imprison us both...she only got me."

"I ran when Amelie was taken, long before she was even entrapped in the lamp...how did it even happen, what did she do to you?", Angela’s voice grew thick with boiling rage.

Amelie visibly shook as her arms moved down to her legs, a purple cloth covering the space between her legs that faded into the smoke, showing a large portion of her upper legs and thighs, and shimmering gold tattoos, gleaming with some kind of energy, "These...trammels, bind my essence to the lamp in conjunction with my shackles. These very symbols are found inside of its walls. They are what cause me to feel the very presence of would be masters and mistresses, they are what pull me first into the lamps spout, draining my body and will of all energy before dissolving my body into a fine smokey energy, then trapping me inside...where it’s cold, and all too sensitive to the nerves. The spilled some of my blood and mixed it with the oil of the lamp, where that bound me to my being, the markings on my legs ensure some level of obedience. Every hour inside of there has been torture."

"Then…", Lena’s voice quivered with frustration and sadness, "...why ask me to go back inside the lamp? Why would you do that to yourself?!"

"Because...I thought Angela wouldn’t believe me…", she looked to Lena, "...as much as you wouldn’t either."

As she spoke, Amelie's bonds and tattoos lit up, her face tense with pain as she shut her eyes, her body dissolved rapidly into vapor, and began to be pulled rapidly into the lamp, her essence violently being crammed and zipped through the spout, until the lamp shook, as if Amelie had landed hard on the inside, thumped against the wall of the vessel.

Lena yelped and rushed over, rubbing the side of the lamp causing Amelie to return outside, her voice on the brink of tears, "And would you mind telling me why you did that you bloody masochist?!"

"I...because I don’t know how to be free...or how to free myself, so I might as well get used to this. Again. 'Equals' or otherwise.", She felt her back, once turned to Lena as she was brought forth from the lamp, feel a shiver shoot across her skin as her bare hands turned Amelie towards her.

Lena’s face was steadfast, unwavering, "Well I’m gonna be sure as hell to get you out of there and be a free djinn, a free wraith, you understand?! None of this doubt, no turning around or regressing back to being something less than what you really are, I'm breaking you out of that damned thing!"

"I concur", Angela included, "I swear unto you that I will make up for my error of not being able to save you sooner. I trust Lena with great consideration and pride, and knowing her, she’ll be able to release you, with our cooperation."

"But how...how would we do that?" Amelie was flustered, dumbfounded. She thought Lena wanted to be equals with her, to not grant a single wish on her contract, now she wanted to truly release her?

“Simple”, Angela was quick to respond, a sense of pride welling within her having heard Lena’s resolve, “We go to the person that bound you in the first place.”

"...but why her? Is there no one else?", The djinn was losing composure, she found it difficult to comprehend that so many would be willing to help a lost being

"No one else knows the incantation to trap demons and enslave them aside from her, she learned it to add to her compendium of spells for the sake of progression. Perhaps with persuasion, she can be convinced.", it wasn't the best of plans Angela could think of at the moment, but for the sake of her friend, she supposed she'd do whatever it took.

Angela’s willingness to seek out the one who enslaved Amelie, Lena’s determination to set her free, even Winston, having not batted an eye nor inclined to disagree, all of this brought Amelie to tears, “I...right then. I’m with you, and I swear unto you Lena’, clasping her hands in her own, ‘as your djinn, your servant till I’m... _freed_ , I shall protect you with my body and soul on this journey.”

Lena sighed deeply, the muscles in her body tensing when Amelie called herself a servant, as hers, _You’re not my servant, you’re my friend, we've talked about this, don’t ever forget that... and maybe someone more later_ , she thought. Yes, she wanted to admit that to Amelie at some point, but she supposed it would be better to take it one step at a time.

Winston scuffled up to Lena, “Same here. I’ll make extra supplies for you, as well as oxygen supplements in the event something goes wrong, Lena. Plus erhm, I’ve been growing more adept with modern weaponry, so I’ll be able to do what I can.”

Lena looked around her, surrounded by friends sharing one common goal, to free their new and old addition to the group, Amelie, the Wraith, the Djinn, it didn’t matter to her. She was going to set Amelie free if it was the last thing she would do.

Before she could say anything else, something in the room began to vibrate, Angela’s ears perking up at the sound.

"Something wrong Commander?" Lena could see Angela’s pupils shrink, her breaths becoming faster.

"Ah, you see, I uh, hmm", Angela’s wings folded downwards, her ears stiffening at every sound of the vibration.

Lena was even more confused, "Someone calling you?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking, yes." Angela was beginning to blush, overtly so.

Soon enough, Angela noticed Amelie herself began to withhold a rather infectious laugh, "Oh don’t you dare-"

"After all these years and you’re still around that family?"

Angela huffed, Amelie was always one to tease, "When you put it like that you make it sound like a bad thing."

Amelie could barely contain herself, "I wouldn’t dare dream of implying that Angela, but at the same time I find it fascinating that I’ve now found out you’ve been with the Amaris for this long!"

Lena paused for a moment as Amelie and Angela exchanged embarrassed and teasing words. Amari? Something was clicking but she wasn’t entirely sure, "-as in General Amari?"

Amelie then burst out into an absolute chorus of laughter, “And your preference of their nobility and high stature still sustains you to this day I see!”

“Amelie!! Please”, Angela was blushing, and it was horribly apparent for everyone to see,” you’re embarrassing me in front of our esteemed allies in this quest of ours.”

Lena and Winston moved closer to Amelie, the former still thoroughly confused, “What? Is General Amari someone like you and Amelie?”

“Something like that, yes, she just doesn’t know it yet. I’ve been staying with the Amari bloodline for generations, always acting as a watchful observer. They’ve had this energy in their blood, in their lineage, I just can’t put my finger on it and…”

Suddenly the vibrations were replaced by a knock on one of the doors that led into the room, startling everyone inside horribly. Amelie’s tattoos glowed once more as she braced to let the lamp take her, to hide, but not before Lena swooped in and held her by the waist, frustration boiling in her eyes, “No way luv, that’s not gonna happen again.”

Amelie began to panic, “Lena, this could be someone from Talon masking as this 'General Amari', someone with the power to take me away-”

“I’m sorry but did you forget you’re an all-powerful genie?” Lena pouted, frustrated and focused on breaking Amelie of this deprecative nature.

“Djinn! And no matter what I’d do they’d find me-”

“Maybe at the very least disguise yourself or something? I can’t imagine the lamp ‘protects’ you from hunters, even some, going on a limb here, who could sense you or something.”

“But-”

“I’m not gonna let you be hurt by this thing as much as I can, alright? Nor am I gonna let you bring yourself down because of it. Now think of something, please!”

Amelie scrunched her face as her garments turned to tattered clothes, all overshadowed by a dusty cloak, her skin turning a near pale, pearlescent white, eyes still golden yellow, horns hidden beneath a hood, “Will this do?”

_God…damnit Djinn or disguise I’m so fucking gay right now_ , “Yeah, that’ll do nicely.”

Amelie gawked, “Nicely?”

The door then opened, footsteps of a new individual infiltrating the room.

Lena, having realized what just slipped from her lips, panicked in turn, “Oh would you look at the time! Our guest is here, please act natural!”

Amelie shuffled behind Lena, her arms wrapping around her summoners left arm, her face looking down to the ground. 

Lena’s face flushed red, _Why does this have to be so gay right now?_

In walked a woman, dressed in a sharp suit, adorned with small medals and trinkets on her chest, shoulders adorned with weaved pauldrons, a braided rope across her right shoulder. Dark tan skin, near jet black hair, short and cut, beautiful deep brown and amber eyes, a tattoo under her right eyelid, from what Lena could see, resembling the symbol of Horus. 

Before she could lock the door behind her, Angela, still unchanged, waved to the rest of the party to go, "Amelie, could you hide them for a moment?"

“ _Quoi?_ Don’t you know this person?” She was genuinely confused, it didn’t sound like Angela was too worried about this woman.

The woman began to lock the door. Angela was growing more frantic, her voice reduced to aggressive whispers, “Yes but she hasn’t seen me like this now I need you to go and-”

“...Who are you?”, The room fell silent as the woman spoke. A density filled the throats of everyone in the room, as Angela, turned around slowly in her impish form to the woman that had just walked in.

Lena protested, "Angie what the hell are you doing?"

She walked forward without fear, "...saying hello to a ward of mine. Again."

The sharply dressed woman began to creep forward, slowly, her face filled with caution and bewilderment. Angela following suit, wings still spread widely for her to see.

She looked to Angela, a hand slowly reaching out to her shoulder, intercepted by the imps own hand, grasping it gently, “...I thought you seemed familiar.”

“Oh Fareeha”, Angela sighed, “how you’ve grown.”


	4. Recover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recovery is a delicate process, though catching up makes time of the essence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (((SORRY THIS TOOK OVER TWO MONTHS TO UPDATE!!!!)))  
> Finals were an absolute nightmare and summer classes prior to then took up all my time, sorry for making y'all wait so long!
> 
> special thanks to both brazenedMinstrel and sh0rtsista

For a moment in time, it was as if everything had come to a standstill. Angela having remained in her impish form, still present before the one called Fareeha. Their eyes locked into each other's gaze as if they’d each found a figure they saw in a nearly forgotten dream. 

“I haven’t seen you since...since that-,'' Fareeha continued to stare, unable to find the strength to let go, run away, nor be consumed with disbelief, yet couldn’t find the words to even continue. 

Angela pressed forward, her wings flaring wide as the began to encompass herself and her long since gullible friend, “-It was a long time ago, my little _liebchen_.”

At that Fareeha’s eyes widened, a gasp of air leaving her lungs as she took one step backward and another two forward, “Then...where did you go? What happened to you? You just, you just up and left us-”

“-Because your mother had ended our pact when...well I-”, Angela’s wings fluttered and retracted ever so slightly, “-I think it’s better if we sit down and talk about it.”

Fareeha ran in to hug Angela, the imps wings flaring outwards, eyes wide for a moment before relaxing, and returning the gesture, “We...can take as much time as you need but…”

Angela cupped her face into her hands, pink eyes seemingly disarming some remnants of stress yet still dormant in Fareeha, “What is wrong, my little falcon?”

“That, actually. The last time I...remember seeing you like this was before my mother left. You always called me ‘little falcon’ whenever she wasn’t home”, Fareeha’s eyes then continued to dart from the side, “...I always thought you were imaginary.”

“We’ve worked together on multiple occasions the way you are now,'' Angela's eyebrows cocked to the side as a small grin formed on her face, “or have you forgotten how many times I’ve had to stitch up your wounds after you went headfirst into who knows how many ambushes, or raids, or-”

“I’m not sure you have all the time in the world to go over my whole resume, Angela.” Fareeha returned the smile, with a semblance of a small chuckle she hoped she could only hear, “But...my mother...she formed some kind of contract with you?”

“For the sake of your protection, Fareeha. She always knew there was such a larger world out there beyond your own understanding, so she wanted to make sure you were safe.”

Angela knew from the look on Fareeha’s face, from her response, that the answer she gave wasn’t fully satisfying. It was the truth, there was no doubt about that now, yet still, she could see the resentment burning within the eyes of the decorated soldier. “Look, _liebchen_ , she...might have asked me to alter some of your memories after she and I had...left.”

As if awoken with fiery anger Fareeha shook away from the embrace, “You what?! How could you even do that to me?”

“Look it wasn’t entirely my own doing, your mother had plenty of help to provide there. I kept insisting we not go through the process, but we had made a blood pact upon encountering each other for the first time. I was still searching for Amelie and...well-” Angela looked to Amelie, still in her human guise, grasping onto Lena as if for her life, “she had information about the whereabouts of my friends captor...of course I’d agree to a pact with her, only for a time, whatever it took to get Amelie back.”

Fareeha took a moment before going back to Angela, whose wings were now folded down, fists clenched until she felt Fareeha’s hands brush over her shoulders, “Look...we’ll figure this out slowly, alright? I’m willing to take as much time as you need.”

The wings slowly encompassed Fareeha once more, the smile returning to Angela’s face, “Then we have quite a ways to go, don’t we?”

Away from the conversation, still watching Angela and Fareeha continue to catch up with each other, Winston, Amelie, and Lena, whom despite having released her own new djinn friend was still in awe at what was transpiring, “Alright. Well, that just sort of happened.”

Winston managed to somehow speak himself, “So...is this just normal for you now?”

“I’m. Well?” That was admittedly a hard question to answer so soon, ”I mean. Not really. It’s just, I’m kind of learning to accept it, breathe it all in, somehow.”

Winston simply raised an eyebrow, “...right, though what about our friend? Who’s still clinging onto you?”

Amelie continued to look at Angela console a bewildered Fareeha, still trying to process everything that was happening to her, how long it had been since she saw her, how her memory may have shifted and changed over the years. 

Though unbeknownst to her at the moment, Lena’s experience was a little complicated, as she could feel Amelie’s soft fingertips burrow deeper into her upper arm.  
“Not gonna lie Winston, I think her grip is cutting off the blood in my arm.”

Amelie gawked and stood to attention in a poof of smoke, revealing her djinn form. Though with a bit of a discernable addition, legs. Thick, padded, more akin to some kind of cloth armor than anything luxurious or ineffective, yet the trammels etched into her thighs still shone through, her boots were the same metal as her shackles, with small pointed tips at where the toes would be. Amelie herself shaking profusely as if she hadn’t stood for a long time, “I’m so sorry Lena!, I-I did not mean to-”

“No it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

Amelie continued to plead, her hands pressed together, “B-but I hurt you, and I must-”

Lena let out an audible groan, having to pinch the bridge of her nose as her face wrinkled,” Okay, Luv? Real talk? We need to have a bit of a chat. Right now.”

“But-”, Amelie protested.

“C’mon!”, Lena began to walk back towards a secluded corner, or wherever Amelie had transported the tent, who was slipping and forming her legs back to smoke to balance herself upright, the trammels not making the shift easy as if amidst the sounds of silent firecrackers Oxton could hear Amelie grunt under the transformation. She stayed behind to let Amelie catch up, helping her stay upright and not off balance. Before she left, she returned her gaze to Winston, “You can like, hang out or accommodate them? Right?”

Winston simply looked to Fareeha and Angela, still deep in conversation though, in a much lighter air than before, he continued to look on as he gave a thumbs up.

Lena helped guide Amelie back to the tent they had arrived in, making sure they were inside before finally letting out a small breath of frustration.

Either by some curse of the lamp or through observation, Amelie could feel this. ”Lena forgive me, I-”

Another groan escaped Lena’s lungs, “Let’s actually start right there, okay? Please don’t apologize for like, basic mistakes. It’s not going to do you any good in the long run, alright?”

Amelie nodded half-heartedly, “Right, but-”

“Also, just in case. Just...in case, I wanna remind you that you’re not my servant, or anyone else's, alright?”

“Well by technicality,” Amelie sighed,” I am your servant, you hold the lamp.”

“Look, technically, whatever, I don’t like it, I don’t like you being enslaved to this...lamp, but in the meantime, while we try to fix things just...don’t feel like things are just hopeless by default. Alright? No, none of that, masochistic stuff, okay?”

It took a while for Amelie to understand what Lena had meant, in what manner had she been masochistic? Until inevitably it dawned on her, “I merely wanted to demonstrate what would happen when I return to the lamp, how the trammels work-”

“And I would have believed you if you just told me! You don’t need to hurt yourself!”

“Lena.”

“What?” Lena spoke up with a volume that indicated she would not back down. Not any time soon. Amelie crossed her arms in frustration, unsure of how best to make her point more clear than she already had. Yet there was something else to her at this moment, something...hurt.

“I’ve been a slave to this lamp for so long...so forgive me if my trust seems to waiver, when in the hands of a mortal.”

Lena took some time to digest what Amelie had said, something she herself hadn’t considered as much in the beginning, “Well that I can understand...kind of. But still, it wouldn’t hurt to have some faith in us, wouldn’t it? Especially knowing I work for your best friend over there.”

Amelie looked back to her old friend, ”Yes, Indeed with Angela I feel safer.”

“Right?! You can trust her! So maybe lay back on the harmful...genie stuff?”

She turned back around to face Lena, her long ponytail swaying with the wind and her movement, “I'm not sure what you mean.”

Lena sort of scratched her head, ”Well for starters, maybe feeling less paranoid?”

“Meaning?”, Amelie leaned in closer.

“Try not to put yourself in the lamp so often at the first sign of trouble in the company of friends?”

Amelie gave Lena a cold and long withstanding look. Grim, frustrated in her own right, and simply shook her head, “You do understand that when someone takes that lamp, you could start to die, right?”

“Well...wait really?”, Lena’s eyes went wide.

Amelie placed her hands on Lena’s shoulders, her eyes filled with concern, “Your breathing condition...if I am freed, it comes back, and you may only have moments to live.”

It was also Lena hadn’t really thought of. She really stopped taking her dosages of purified oxygen Winston and Angela had prepared for her, and they hadn’t really discussed an alternative to the problem,”...okay then.”

Amelie’s eyes flared with magic at her statement, “Quoi?”

Lena simply looked on at her, “I said okay then. If my death is what it takes to get you freed, so be it.”

A flash of magical flame enveloped the two of them, striking outwards from Amelie’s hands and nostrils as Lena remained still, unflinching in the face of her companion’s distress, “What kind of Foolish girl are you even?”

“You want to be free, don’t you?”

“Yes-”

Lena took a step forward, “So I guess I’ll need to die in order for you to be freed, and that’s fine.”

The djinn scratched her head and arched her back towards the floor as she cried out, recoiling back to Lena so she was right in front of her face, “Look, really listen to yourself when you say that. Your life isn’t worth my freedom and-”

Lena pressed her forehead against Amelie’s, feeling the demonic horns that sprouted from her scalp, “I like to think it is, can’t imagine wanting to live after being torn away from your best friend, maybe more than best friend, being trapped in an ancient metal teapot for years and years, probably being commanded and enslaved by god knows who.”

Amelie’s voice began to tremble, “You listen here-”

But Lena wasn’t done, “No! I’m not stopping just so you can justify your own imprisonment and eternal servitude BULLSHIT. I’m getting you out of that lamp, WE’RE getting you out of that lamp!”

Amelie grappled Lena by the shoulders, “At the cost of your own LIFE?”

“YES!”

They stayed locked to each other in shock. One force not willing to back down for the sake of the other, eternally stranded in a showdown for the sake of each other. Amelie then released Lena from her grasp, turning away from her. Her back facing Lena as she began to descend into the lamp.

To which Lena promptly placed her hand upon, “No.”

Amelie stopped, either by Lena placing her hand on the lamp, or the mere command given, “No what?”

Lena took a moment to realize what she had done, releasing her hand from the lamp. She took a moment to breathe deeply before returning her attention back to Amelie, “Don’t go back in, please.”

“I need a moment after your reckless pledge.”, her back was still facing Lena.

Who wasn’t finished, by any means, “Reckless or not, hiding doesn’t solve the problem.”

“Well, it does for me-”

“Well it also destroys your hope.”

It was now that Amelie’s shoulders began to tremble, her arms quivering in the cocoon of her own grasp, “What hope do I have?”

Lena groaned once more, walking closer to Amelie and placing her hands upon hers, now thoroughly fed up with the game of cat and mouse they continued to play. She was going to set Amelie free...no matter what, “Us. We just went over this...look at me.”

Amelie continued to face away from Lena, her hair gently swaying in the breeze. Small tendrils of her long trail taking their own path in the motion.

Lena took a deep breath, “Look at me, please.”

She eventually did, after a good minute. When she came to face Lena, her eyes were filled with tears, pink in hue, and her voice now thoroughly shaking, “What?”

Lena’s heart started skipping beats as she went to wipe the tears away from her companion's cheek, her thumb gliding over the warm skin of the djinn, “Let’s try something simple, Amelie. A question. What am I to you?”

Amelie took a moment to answer, “...my Mis-”

Lena shook her head, “Nope.”

“My friend?”, Amelie looked a tad bit confused, but also, perhaps, yearning for something. An answer.

Lena smiled, “There we go.”

So it was that suddenly, for Amelie, the answer started to become more clear to her, “My...stupid friend.”

Lena smiled even brighter than before, “Y’know what, that’s good too, even better.”

Amelie’s tears continued to flow, “My foolish friend that wants to just, willingly sacrifice herself-”

“That’s it let’s keep the complaints coming-”

The djinns hair began to rise, her eyes glowing and the tears flowing freely, “My foolish, idiotic, kind friend who somehow works for my best friend and just-”

“What else c’mon!”

“And!”

“What?!!”

Lena’s heart suddenly went aflame. Not in a physical sense, but in a more of oh sweet hells that is a lot of intimate feelings right now, as Amelie rushed back into Lena, her arms wrapping tightly around the small British woman's form, lifting her up slightly into the air by her magical might as she sobbed, “And I don’t want to lose you!”

Lena, at this point, was having a proper gay overload like nothing else. But at the same time, she felt glad that Amelie had been able to get this out, “Hey...Amelie.”

“You stubborn, foolish-foolish woman!”, Amelie continued to sob, shaking violently mid-air as Lena could feel her strained cries, the tears dripping onto her neck, the warm breath, and vibrations from Amelie’s hiccups. She could feel her slowly unravel in her grasp. 

Lena then patted Amelie’s head gently, “Hey, easy there”

To which her sobs slowly began to fade away, “I already swore to protect you, I already swore to serve you and-”

“Look, Luv”, Lena gingerly placed her hands closer to Amelie’s face,” I’d rather you swear to just, try, okay?”

“Try to what?”, Amelie looked to Lena, tears still dripping before her eyes.

For Lena, it was as if she had been staring into the personal spirit of heaven herself. Amelie’s golden eyes shimmering as the tears were reduced to a trickle, her eyelids slowly closing as she began to relax, she couldn’t help but sigh, “Try to be you. The you that was happy and free, as you were with Angie over there. As well as the you that gets angry, that doesn’t take shit from anyone, is sassy and composed and just, flamboyant when she wants to be.”

Amelie scoffed, “Those feel like one too many positive comments Lena.”

“Well, what can I say?”, Lena smirked, “Couldn’t forget how much of an all-out powerful badass you were when you demanded respect.”

Amelie laughed, “ _Mon Dieu_ , you still remember that?”

“Literally happened only a few hours ago Luv,” Lena said as she shrugged in the embrace.

Amelie slowly began to reform a coy grin, though genuine in nature. “Tch, I take it back, an awfully persistent annoyance is what you are.”

“Yeh, maybe,” Lena lifted her right arm over Amelie to hold her tighter as she gently cupped her face into her hands, the glow of the rune on her chest gently illuminating the two of them, “but this annoyance isn’t giving up on you, not anytime soon.”

Amelie hugs Lena tighter around her waist, nearly blushing as she looks away from Lena in a split second, unsure of how to feel for her statements. Something warm began to burn within her as well, but she felt as if she would need more time. “Thank you...really…”

“Don’t mention it Luv,'' Lena continued to stroke Amelie’s cheekbone as she gently began to blush, a smile flourishing upon her face. “Don’t mention it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, major thanks to brazenedMinstrel for beta-reading the piece.  
> https://brazenedminstrel.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/brazMinstrel  
> https://soundcloud.com/user-768938233
> 
> And major thanks to sh0rtsista for not only the BEAUTIFUL commission piece presented here but also the wonderful words of encouragement along the way.  
> https://twitter.com/sh0rtsista  
> https://shortsista.tumblr.com/  
> GO SUPPORT HER WORK!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Once again! Special thanks to both dogtit  
> (http://dogtit.tumblr.com/)  
> (https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogtit/pseuds/dogtit)
> 
> and brazenedMinstrel!  
> (https://brazenedminstrel.tumblr.com/)  
> (https://archiveofourown.org/users/brazenedMinstrel/pseuds/brazenedMinstrel)  
> (https://soundcloud.com/user-768938233)


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